Safety and Efficacy of Radiofrequency Catheter Ablation in Treatment of Tachyarrhythmia in Elderly Patients

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Radiofrequency(RF) catheter ablation has been widely and successfully employed to cure young adult and old aged patients of a variety of arrhythmias. Only limited data exist which compare the results in two groups. The aim of this study was to compare the efficacy and safety of RF catheter ablation in old-aged patients(Group 1. older than 65 years old) versus young adult patients(Group 2. younger than 65 years old). METHOD: Clinical and electrophysiologic data were reviewd retrospectively in 385 patients who underwent radiofrequency catheter ablation from December. 1997 through May 2004. Procedure ralated results were used to compare 2 groups RESULTS: Mean age of each groups was 68.4+/-3.37 in group 1 versus 37.5+/-14.04 in group 2. There was no difference between two groups in gender, types of tachyarrhythmia, success rate, rate of complication and recurrence. No severe complications, such as death, vascular dissection, rupture, and major cerebrovascular accidents were present in either group. Procedure related variables, including fluroscopic time, were similar between 2 groups. CONCLUSION: RF catheter ablation is a safe and feasible primary treatment method for tachyarrhythmia in elderly patients, results similar to those achived with younger patients.